ROSEMONT, Ill. - The Big Ten office announced the conference schedules for the 2018 and '19 football seasons Wednesday, as approved by the Big Ten Directors of Athletics. The 2018 and '19 schedules include nine conference games in each season.

Illinois, who will be in the Big Ten West Division starting in 2014, will play each of the other six West Division foes - Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin - in both 2018 and '19, in addition to three crossover games against the East Division.

In 2018, the Fighting Illini will have crossover games at home against Penn State (Sept. 22) and at Rutgers (Oct. 6) and Maryland (Oct. 27), making five of the Fighting Illini's nine B1G games on the road. Illinois' non-conference slate in 2018 consists of three home games, Kent State on Sept. 1, Western Illinois on Sept. 8 and South Florida on Sept. 15, giving the Orange and Blue seven home games in 2018.

The 2019 Illinois crossover games against the East Division are home games against Michigan (Oct. 12) and Rutgers (Nov. 2), and a road game at Michigan State (Nov. 9), meaning the Illini will have five Big Ten home games and four road games that season. All three 2019 non-conference games are yet to be determined.

East and West Divisional play will begin in 2014 with the addition of Maryland and Rutgers to the Big Ten Conference, making 2013 the final year of the 12-team league and the Legends and Leaders division names. Beginning in 2014, the Big Ten football division alignments will feature Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers in the East Division and Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin in the West Division. Each school will play the other six schools in its division plus two teams from the other division in 2014 and 2015, which will serve as transitional years in which the schools will still be playing eight-game schedules. Beginning in 2016, each school will play three teams from the other division as part of its nine-game schedule.

Illinois Future Schedule Notes
 All Illinois future schedules through 2018 are now complete and can be found here: http://bit.ly/ILLFBSchedules
 All three non-conference games for 2019 have yet to be announced.
 The Fighting Illini will close the regular season against in-state rival Northwestern every season through 2019. The Illini will finish in Evanston in 2014, 2016 and 2018, and will host the Wildcats in Champaign on the final weekend of 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
 From 2014-19, there will be 16 crossover games (two each in 2014 & 2015 and three each from 2016-19). Here's the breakdown of how many times Illinois will face each East Division team during that span: Rutgers (4), Ohio State (3), Penn State (3), Michigan (2), Michigan State (2), Indiana (1), Maryland (1).
 Illinois will open the 2019 Big Ten season against Nebraska, meaning the Illini and Huskers will open conference play against each other in five consecutive and six out of seven years. Illinois and Nebraska open B1G play each year between 2013 and 2017 and then again in 2019. The only outlier is 2018, when the Illini will host Penn State to open conference play.

2013 Tickets On Sale | 2013 Schedule
The Fighting Illini have four home games left on the 2013 slate, including a prime-time matchup with No. 25 Wisconsin this Saturday. Coca-Cola Family 4-Pack tickets are available for the Illini-Badgers game and include four tickets, four hot dogs and four drinks for just $99. Tickets for all four remaining home games are on sale now.